‘IT FEELS LIKE A VICE GRIP’

Michael Fassbender returns as double agent Martian who is on a deadly mission to save the woman he loves

- WORDS: JEN PHARO

It’s every actor’s dream to play a deadly super spy, but Michael Fassbender admits The Agency’s Martian is the most challenging role he’s ever taken on.

Not only are there high-speed car chases, shootouts and hand-to-hand combat scenes, Michael must also find a way to play the inscrutable agent’s truth without ever becoming emotional on screen.

“The challenge with Martian has always been playing someone who gives nothing away, while still finding small moments where he reveals himself to the audience,” says award-winning star Michael, 49. “For me, striking that balance between what he shows the audience and what he hides from the people around him, who are highly trained to detect anything suspicious, has always been one of the most difficult aspects of playing this character. He has no crutches. From what I read in my research about double agents, a lot of them turn to alcohol or drugs but Martian doesn’t do that. His real addiction is being back out in the field — that’s his fix.”

In season one of The Agency, viewers learned that Martian had fallen in love with Samia Zahir (Jodie Turner-Smith), while on an undercover mission. Now to save her from being tortured in a Sudanese prison he’s been forced to become a double agent by British intelligence officer James Richardson (Hugh Bonneville). It means betraying CIA London Station Chief Bosko (Richard Gere) and his sharp and unforgiving former handler Naomi (Katherine Watson).